Education an important issue for voters

Like never before, polls show education as the top issue concerning state voters, largely because of massive public-school and higher education funding cutbacks.

The cuts happened because federal stimulus money for public-school education disappeared almost three years ago and the state did not immediately replace the money sent to local school districts.

The $900 million cut in overall basic education spending in Gov. Tom Corbett's first budget made him unpopular and threatens his re-election, even though he blamed school districts for failing to prepare for the end of stimulus money and mostly failing to heed his call for wage freezes.

As local state House candidates campaign for election or re-election, the cuts loom large.

Four of the seven candidates in contested local primary election state House races say restoring the cuts is their top priority. The way to do that, they say, is to impose a legitimate extraction tax to replace or supplement the present local impact fee on natural gas. Estimates show that would produce $600 million to $700 million in the first year and $2 billion a year in later years.

"We need to tax Marcellus Shale. That's what's got to happen," said state Rep. Marty Flynn, a Democratic candidate for re-election in the 113th state House district.

Flynn and the three Democratic candidates for the 112th state House district seat, state Reps. Frank Farina and Kevin Haggerty, and former Valley View School Director Bob Munley all favor an extraction tax.

Truck driver Lee Morgan, Flynn's opponent for the 113th Democratic nomination, favors an extraction tax, but opposes using it to fund education. Instead, he wants the extraction tax money reserved for paying down the state's long-term debt, including the money it owes pension funds.

In the 117th state House district, which has a contested race for the Republican nomination, incumbent Rep. Karen Boback and challenger Davis Haire, an optometrist, see the tax differently.

Haire opposes the tax because he's against raising taxes or imposing any new taxes. Boback, a former public-school teacher who voted for the impact fee and Corbett's first budget, also blamed school districts for failing to prepare for the cuts, but said she might vote for an extraction tax if the money went to education.

"Wouldn't that be something?" she said before adding she would have to see the tax legislation before deciding.

Corbett has consistently opposed an extraction tax, arguing it could chase gas drillers to other states, but the General Assembly is showing a renewed interest in the tax because of a projected year-end budget deficit of $500 million or more.

On other education-related issues, the seven candidates spoke in broader terms or generalities, often with few specifics on methods or funding to implement their ideas.

Haggerty: He favors also shifting more of the gambling tax money to education. He favors de-emphasizing athletic programs in favor of arts programs. He also favors de-emphasizing standardized testing of students to monitor their progress and eliminating testing for elementary school students who "are petrified going into school" because of testing.

On higher-education, he favors working on convincing local universities and colleges to reduce tuition by 10 percent to make college more affordable.

Munley: He favors mandatory kindergarten attendance, an emphasis on learning to read and more money for early childhood education, He also wants to increase the state share of public-school funding to 50 percent.

On higher education, he favors trying to find ways to make college and post-high school education more affordable by cutting interest rates on state loans. He also thinks colleges should focus more on producing students for available jobs. So, he favors stronger investment in community colleges and trade schools.

Farina: He said he believes more money will solve most of the state's problems in education. He favors more money for early childhood education, de-emphasizing standardized testing, appointing a committee to study making higher education more affordable and creating incentives such as lower-interest-rate loans or loan forgiveness so students trained in state colleges stay in Pennsylvania.

Morgan: He said he thinks a renewed focus on math, reading and writing will go a long way toward improving education, but also favors consolidating the state's 500 school districts into five to "take politics out of education" and allow "teachers to teach" without an overemphasis on standardized testing. The five districts' administrators would make all hiring and curriculum decisions with local school boards allowed only input on curriculum. He favors more funding for state-owned colleges so students don't have "loans hanging over their heads for a very long period of time."

He also favors creating a funding stream to save private and parochial schools, even though the state Constitution prohibits public funding for parochial schools.

Flynn: In defending his desire for more money for public-school education, he said education dollars yield large returns on investment. He pointed to statistics that show the state spends $14,000 a year per student and $40,000 a year per prison inmate. "There's something pretty twisted there, you know?" he said.

He favors more money for basic, early childhood, special and remedial education, saying the governor's cuts have ruined the state's rank in educational attainment.

Boback: She argues that because she was a teacher and guidance counselor for 33 years, "if anybody's pro-education, I surely am."

She defended the governor's latest budget proposal, saying it commits the largest-ever percentage of a budget to education, She favors more money for "everything and anything" involving education "because the public school system is the great equalizer," but says budget constraints will limit what can be done.

Haire: Opposes the extraction tax because, he argues, the nation spends more money than most others on education without getting top results. He favors getting "back to basics, making sure all students can read and write and have basic fundamental skills in math."

He also favors allowing state funding to follow public-school students to their choice of school to create competition to improve faltering schools. He also favors reviewing and perhaps altering state mandates that force districts to spend money. He also favors reviewing the costs of higher education, believing it shouldn't cost as much as it does, and better connecting higher education programs with available jobs.

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

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